User:Teratornis/Wiki tasks
This subpage is about administrative improvements I would like to see on RationalWiki. Even though I am an administrator with some powers, I try to tread as lightly as possible, by documenting everything I want to do before I do it. If you are not me and you want to comment on something, please do so on the talk page rather than on this page.
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[edit] To-do
These are tasks I have not completed yet (or persuaded someone else to do for me).
[edit] Interwiki links
- Interwiki links
- Write a help page describing the interwiki link prefixes available on RationalWiki.
- For example, see: http://www.bicyclingwiki.com/index.php?title=Help:Interwiki_links — the important thing is to document at least any nonstandard interwiki link prefixes the site administrators have added
- Propitiate the site administrators to add some more prefixes, and document exactly how so they don't have to waste time thinking
- Write a help page describing the interwiki link prefixes available on RationalWiki.
[edit] Categories
- Categories
- Make the category I redlinked already: Category:Templates from Wikipedia (12:13, 13 October 2007 (EDT): done).
- Examine the existing categories to see about making them tree-structured. As of 12:13, 13 October 2007 (EDT), Special:Uncategorizedcategories lists 109 uncategorized categories. Ideally there should only be one, which would be: Category:Categories, i.e., the top-level category.
- Propitiate the site administrators to add a link to the top-level category to MediaWiki:sidebar for RationalWiki. Like I also did on Bicycling Wiki. (01:41, 30 October 2007 (EDT): now that I am an administrator, I can edit MediaWiki:Sidebar, but I won't unless other administrators see the value of doing so. In the meantime, I'll make categories browseable from Category:Categories.)
- Discussion about this task is ongoing on User talk:Teratornis/Wiki tasks#Categories - I will take no action until consensus emerges.
- The consensus appears to be that nobody minds as long as I don't break anything that already exists, and I don't expect to break anything. Although admittedly, breaking things can be fun. Good thing I finished adolescence long ago.
01:24, 25 October 2007 (EDT): my first tiny project relating to categories will be to add the missing sort key to pages in Category:Help. The general sort key one normally adds to sort by page name without the page's namespace prefix is:
{{DEFAULTSORT:{{PAGENAME}}}}
However, some help pages have subpage names, and we only want the page name component after the last slash to be the sort key. For example, a page like:
should have the sort key:
{{DEFAULTSORT:{{SUBPAGENAME}}}}
which sorts the page under "E" on the Category:Help page.
One slight complication is that some pages transclude the {{Essay}} template, which adds a default sort key of {{PAGENAME}} rather than {{SUBPAGENAME}}. I might mention on Template talk:Essay that sometimes {{SUBPAGENAME}} would be better. Of course the user can manually override the default sort key by inserting sort keys into each category link on a page.
A stranger complication is that Help:Howtohint has a default sort key of "Goat!". I understand the attempt at invoking the local goat meme, but I don't think this improves the site. I'll just leave the broken sort key as it is in the article, just in case the author is in love with it.
[edit] Index
- Work on my User:Teratornis/Index page, making it like the Editor's index to Wikipedia, only about rationality-type topics. See: User:Teratornis/Index/About and User talk:Teratornis/Index for technical details.
- It would be nice to have a comprehensive index to all the typical arguments about God, creationism, etc. that come up repeatedly, with links to state-of-the-art answers.
- The most straightforward way to start would be to index all the articles and pages on RationalWiki.
- Linking to external sites such as God Is Imaginary and Internet Infidels would be useful; perhaps a separate index page would be best for that.
[edit] Templates
I wish to do several tasks relating to templates:
- Examine the existing templates to see what is on RationalWiki already.
- Adapt some useful templates from Wikipedia:
- wp:Template:Tl (12:13, 13 October 2007 (EDT): done:
{{Tl}}) - {{Tl|Talkheader}}
- {{Tl|Talkheader no user}}
-
{{Google}}- the Google template is better than the Google interwiki link prefix (Google:), because with the{{Google}}template you can separate multiple search terms with spaces, but with the interwiki link you have to type for a space to get the search to work right. Compare the wikitext source for the following links: -
{{NavigationBox}}- see #Navigation templates - [[Template:TOCright]] would be nice for pages such as this one which may grow into having very long TOCs.
- I will think of more.
- wp:Template:Tl (12:13, 13 October 2007 (EDT): done:
- Make a Category:Templates from Wikipedia. Done.
- Categorize it into: Category:Templates. Done.
[edit] Infobox templates
20:34, 18 October 2007 (EDT): So far I have found only one infobox template on RationalWiki:
{{Conservapedia}}
There may be more; I have not examined every template yet. There seems to be no category for infobox templates yet. Make one:
- [[:Category:Infobox templates]]
[edit]
RationalWiki had several navigation templates before I arrived:
These templates use a kind of infobox style, i.e., they float to the upper right of a page. This might clash a little with actual infoboxes, if RationalWiki starts using them (I don't think any infobox templates are here as of 21:32, 27 October 2007 (EDT)).
Wikipedia has a large number of navigation templates that stretch across a page, and usually appear at the bottoms of articles. See: wp:WP:EIW#Series for more information, and check the examples:
I imported some stuff to RationalWiki we need to create them easily:
Navigation templates will be handy for sticking on the index. They can go right under index entries.
I will make these navigation templates first (giving them short names because I will need to add them to many pages):
{{Helpnav}}to contain some or all of: Category:Help. 23:09, 27 October 2007 (EDT): I made a first version, and added it to most of the pages in Category:Help.- {{Tl|BoRnav}} to contain some or all of: Category:Best of RationalWiki (or possibly separate navigation boxes for subcategories thereof).
[edit] Shortcuts
20:53, 18 October 2007 (EDT): another feature to support the index. Pick some shortcut prefixes that do not conflict with any existing namespaces or interwiki link prefixes. Some obvious candidates:
- [[RW:]] - a shortcut to topics in the RationalWiki: (Project:) namespace, namely on these pages.
- [[RWI:]] - a shortcut to topic headings in the index.
Other shortcut prefixes might be useful.
Supporting pages:
- Template:Shortcut - displays a shortcut in a nice box; I copied this from Wikipedia already.
- [[Project:Shortcut]] - documents how shortcuts (will) work on RationalWiki.
- [[Project:Shortcuts]] - annotated list of shortcuts on RationalWiki.
- [[Category:Redirects from shortcuts]]
- [[Category:Redirects]]
- [[Category:Administrative]] - look for any equivalent existing category.
See the analogous pages on Wikipedia:
[edit] Talk page guidelines
- To-do: summarize the discussion from Template talk:Talkheader#Nice header and start the [[Help/Talk page]] page, if nobody else beats me to it.
[edit] Customize MediaWiki:Talkpagetext
- To-do: summarize my suggestion from Template talk:Talkheader#Another cool feature.
[edit] Done
When I or someone else finish a task, move it here.
[edit] Style classes
- Style classes
- At least enough to make the {{Tl|talkheader}} template work correctly.
- {{Tl|Talkheader}} needs the
messagebox standard-talkstyle class which an administrator can add to MediaWiki:Common.css here (which seems to be <gasp> empty now). - A comparison page on Bicycling Wiki which an administrator could simply copy here: MediaWiki:Common.css
- {{Tl|Talkheader}} needs the
- At least enough to make the {{Tl|talkheader}} template work correctly.
- 02:55, 14 October 2007 (EDT): User:Tmtoulouse did this for me. Thanks!
[edit] Administrators
RationalWiki is a mobocracy. I just needed to find out who handles technical stuff. Other helpful users left information for me on User talk:Teratornis:
- Just F.Y.I. Tmtoulouse and Linus are our resident techies/site administrators. Locke
Always Watching...... 19:44, 11 October 2007 (EDT)
- Im sure Linus, TM, or Human could install the damn things.--PalMD-If it looks like a donut, eat it 19:47, 11 October 2007 (EDT)
And see:
[edit] Concise lists
- The recommended administrators:
- Special pages:
- Special:Listusers/sysop - the sysops
- Special:Listusers/bureaucrat - the bureaucrats
- Links that actually document the capabilities of these user classes in MediaWiki:
[edit] Think about donating some money
I'm taking kind of a shine to this place. I'm even thinking about donating some money. That would seem to require figuring out PayPal for the first time in my life. All this fangled technology.
[edit] See also
- RationalWiki talk:Help - RationalWiki's version of the Help desk on Wikipedia
- RationalWiki:Administrators
- RationalWiki:Bureaucrats
[edit] External links
- my similar page on another wiki where I have sysop and bureaucrat status
- metawikipedia:Bureaucrat
- metawikipedia:Administrator